Search - Various Artists :: The Music of Islam Vol. 15: Muslim Music of Indonesia, Aceh and West Sumatra

Ten years in the making, The Music of Islam series recorded in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and Qatar represents the most comprehensive sound documentation available to Westerners today, of a world religion dating back to 1/622. Although governed by strict rules for fourteen centuries, contact with other cultures has radically affected Islamic music throughout history. As the world enters the XV/21st century the timing of this collection serves an even larger purpose, documenting the traditions that have survived and will continue to survive for centuries to come. Today, one fifth of the world's population, one billion people, are Muslims, occupying a large territory stretching from the Atlantic shore of north and west Africa, through west, central, and south Asia to island southeast Asia, and attracting an increasing following in India, western Europe, north America, east Asia, and southern Africa. This is a global presence which cannot be ignored. This final volume introduces the world to the Muslim Music of Indonesia. A land of about two hundred million inhabitants, Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim nation in the world. It is extraordinarily rich in musical genres which derived originally from the Arab-Persian world but were transformed by local genius into unique musical styles and genres, generally practiced by all-male or all-female groups. The great majority of Indonesian Muslims adhere to Sunni beliefs, but a few Shi'a outposts still remain, especially in west-coastal Sumatra. Disk one features many of these rich genres, such as: Sunni prayers; samples of the Shi'a ritual (tabut or tabuik) characterized by passionate vocal music and group drumming; religious or secular songs with body movement accompanied by frame drums (indang); and a musical genre performed by a pair of male singers accompanying themselves with rhythmic beating on round brass trays (salawat). One of the first provinces to develop Muslim art forms was Aceh, the northernmost province of Sumatra. Aceh has a wealth of Muslim musical genres and body movement or dance forms among its ethnic groups. Disk two features many of the rich genres, such as: music and dance associated with syncretic animist and Hindu-Buddhist beliefs with added Muslim components or prayers (daboih ceremony); the well-known male martial dance called seudati; the female dance-vocal form pho, based on the expression of grief at the death of a child, and very sad songs ratap or ratep meuseukat; and a form of worship and courage raising via male group vocal and frame drum performance rapai daboih.